The Madhav Kumar Nepal faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party are preparing to hold a meeting to discuss future course of action to fight the ‘monopoly’ imposed by Co-chairman and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in the party.  

Leaders close to Nepal have serious reservations about the way Oli has been handling the affairs of the party. They say the party will face a disaster if Oli fails to correct his attitude.

As many as 57 politburo and central committee members of the NCP gathered in the Capital on Saturday to discuss the leadership of Oli and his fellow Co-chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. While Nepal did not attend the event, most of those present were critical of Oli, both as the party co-chairman and the country’s leader.

“We will wait and see how the top leaders will address our concerns. If they continue to ignore us, we will decide our move by organising a separate gathering,” said Metmani Chaudhary, a central committee member of the party.  

After Nepal aired his views  about the government at Parliament on Thursday and organised a tea reception for the standing committee members, leaders have become increasingly vocal against Oli.

“Many party leaders had long been harbouring resentment against the government. They began expressing their feeling after senior leader Nepal called Prime Minister Oli out for his inept leadership,” Chaudhary said.

NCP central member Jagannath Khatiwada has emerged as the most vocal critic of the government under Oli. He has demanded that Oli should either quit as the prime minister or as the NCP co-chairman.

The decision of the party’s secretariat to appoint two chief ministers—Prithvi Subba Gurung and Shanker Pokharel— as the provincial in charges of Gandaki Province and Province 5 has displeased many leaders in the party.

“As the party has one-person, one-position rule, the two chief ministers should either leave their responsibilities as the in-charge of the provincial committees or the provincial governments,” Chaudhary demanded.

Standing Committee member Ghanashyam Bhusal has demanded that the party leadership devise a separate criteria to select the leadership of lower committees, claiming that most of the recommendations made from the districts were either biased or unilateral. Meanwhile, NCP Co-chairman Dahal has expressed concern over growing disaffection among the party leaders concerning the NCP leadership that is jointly held by him and Oli.   

Before Nepal left for China on Sunday, he received a telephone call from Dahal, where the latter vowed to settle the thorny issues through the standing committee meeting.